Hundreds of people have rallied in parts of Sudan’s capital, Khartoum, to demand an independent investigation into a deadly June raid on a protest camp after a probe blamed its bloody dispersal on “rogue” military personnel.

On June 3, gunmen in military fatigues stormed the sit-in outside the military headquarters in Khartoum, shooting and beating pro-democracy protesters who were camped out there for months, initially seeking the removal of President Omar al-Bashir and then demanding that the generals who overthrew him cede power to civilians.

More than 100 demonstrators were killed in the raid, according to the protest-aligned Central Committee of Sudanese Doctors, while over 700 others were reported wounded from the attack and subsequent days of violence. 

Survivors recounted that the security forces, mostly made up of members from the notorious Rapid Support Forces (RSF), led by the deputy head of the ruling Transitional Military Council (TMC), threw bodies into the Nile River near the sit-in.

On Saturday, a joint probe by prosecutors and the TMC said that RSF paramilitary forces were involved in the raid along with some members of other security forces. The investigation report said the “rogue” military personnel had acted alone, however. 

‘Disobeyed orders’

Fath al-Rahman Saeed, the head of the investigative committee appointed by the public prosecutor, told a news conference in Khartoum that three officers violated orders by moving forces into the sit-in area, the  focal point for the months-long protests that led to al-Bashir’s overthrow on April 11.

Saeed said orders had been given to security forces to clear Columbia, an area near the protest camp where alcohol and drugs – both illegal in Sudan – were known to be sold.

But, he said, an RSF general had separately ordered a colonel to disperse the sit-in, despite having no such order from further up the chain of command.